Finding the right
job is a challenge
at any stage of your
career. For people
over 50 both the
challenges and the
advantages are
unique.

Two particular
advantages that
as mature candidates
you
have is the wealth
of experience that
you can draw upon,
and the confidence
built on years of
achievement in your
chosen field.

The skills required
to be successful in
your career are also
necessary in
conducting a
successful job
search.

There is no glossing
over the fact that
the loss of a long
term job is a
dramatic event. It
takes time to adjust
to the new reality.
Routines are
disrupted, the
familiar day-to-day
is no longer there.
There is a period of
adjustment to arrive
at the calm acceptance of this
new reality.

We have found that
people who choose to
view a job search
campaign as a
positive challenge,
rather than seeing
themselves as
victims of corporate
decision-making,
tend to land on
their feet sooner
rather than later.
The attitude that
you take
towards launching
your job search is
critically
important.

We have seen,
repeatedly, scenarios
where one door
closes for a person,
and in due course
another one opens.
It may sound cliché
but it is true. It
is tempting and
understandable to
see yourself as a
victim when job loss
occurs.
Psychologists speak
of the various
stages of anger,
denial and finally
acceptance that
people encounter
when experiencing
traumatic life
events. As a mature
candidate, you know
that in life things
happen for a reason.
Sometimes those reasons
are not readily apparent.
Sometimes it is only
with the benefit of
hindsight that we
see a certain
unfolding of events
which ultimately
turn out to be in
our favor.

Choosing to accept
the need to see this
chapter in your life
as a new beginning
helps you to galvanize
your energies and
your enthusiasm in
taking on this new
challenge.

A paradigm shift is
a fancy way of
saying a new way of
looking at things.
For some, a paradigm
shift is necessary
in order to leave
behind that sense of
being a victim.
As mature candidates
you have invested a
lifetime in creating
your character,
strengths,
skills and
other abilities. You
know what you can do
and you know what
you can offer a
potential employer.
You just need to
find the right
opportunity.

True, you may not
have had to look for
a job for a while,
and maybe for many
years. There are new
skills and
techniques and
resources that you
must become familiar
with. In the 21st
century there are
more resources to
draw from. Some
things however never
change. The ability
to organize
yourself, have a
defined goal, the
self-discipline and
perseverance and
developed
communications
skills to make the human
connection are
just as necessary
now as they ever
were.

So, where do you begin?

Accept that a job
search is a job in
itself - very real self-employment

Create
a new routine for
yourself at home,
when using the
computer, when
conducting research
and in reaching out
to potential
employers. Be
self -organized,
record the
information
received, follow
up on job leads, make
contacts... it starts
to sound like a
sales job doesn't
it? It is a sales
job and you are the
product.

Know yourself --
what are the
benefits and
advantages of hiring
you?
A good salesman
knows his product.,
he has studied the
features and
benefits and knows
how to explain these
to any interested
audience. He can
create and build the
buyer's interest in
his product. He
knows that he has to
choose his words
carefully and that
they must serve to
create interest in
what he has to sell.

Review your
achievements and
successes
Review the last five to 10
years of your
career to begin with. What can you
point to with a
potential employer
that you have
achieved in the
areas of revenue
generation,
improvements in
efficiency, cost
savings or other
benefits for your
past employer? Then
list these
achievements one
after the other in
single sentences.
These serve as the
highlights to draw
attention to in your
resume and in your
personal
presentation in an
interview.

Re-think your resume
and its purpose.
Your resume is meant
to sell your
services not merely
to detail your job
duties. You need to
create buyer
interest in the
reader. You cannot
do this by simply
sticking a list of
job responsibilities
on paper and hoping
that a job
description will sell
the concept of
hiring you. You need
to tell people
clearly what you
have done for the
companies that you
have worked with.

Use the Internet and
its resources
efficiently.
The information you
need to connect you
to new opportunities
and new contacts and
potential employers
is all available to
you on the Internet.
Through strategic
sourcing, using
search engines
effectively and
thinking logically
about who is in a
position to make a
hiring decision, you
can generate a flow of
useful activity that
eventually will lead
you to the
opportunity that you
want.

Some of the areas
that you want to
explore:

-- Job boards
directly related to
the industry that
you work in
-- Recruitment firms
that focus in your
industry or field
-- Blogs, forums and
other sites directly
related to your
field
-- Industry
associations and
organizations in
your industry
-- Sites identifying
the top employers in
your geographical
area
-- Association
membership directory
lists found online
-- Local job fairs,
trade shows and
exhibitions and
other events
--Job clubs and
organizations for
mutual support and
sharing of
information
-- National,
regional and
community newspaper
websites for job ads
-- Major job-search
boards where you can
create automatic
job-alerts
-- Creating your
profile on relevant
business networking
sites

As you see,
there is a lot of
ground to cover.
Your learned ability
to organize
information will
come in handy in
marshaling these
resources. The first
steps in a successful
job search are
identifying what you
need, where you need
to go for
information and
creating a plan to
focus your efforts
on a
daily basis.

In
Part 2 we
identify specific
websites, resources
and techniques to create
a step-by-step plan
for self-marketing.